Cards Module
VISA and Mastercard card issuing with virtual and physical cards, 3DS authentication, full card management, and spend controls for fintechs and banks in Cabo Verde.
Card Issuing
Issue VISA and Mastercard branded cards with full BIN management, card personalization, and support for both virtual and physical card programs.
3D Secure Authentication
Full 3DS 2.0 authentication with frictionless and challenge flows, ensuring PSD2 SCA compliance and reducing fraud on card-not-present transactions.
Card Management
Complete card lifecycle management including activation, PIN management, limits, freeze/unfreeze, replacement, and cancellation with live status tracking.
Spend Controls
Granular spending limits by merchant category, geography, time, and amount. Live transaction alerts and instant card controls for cardholders.
End-to-End Card Program Management
The Cards Module transforms licensed financial institutions into full card issuers without building card processing infrastructure from scratch. Through pre-established BIN sponsor relationships and processor integrations, Paymart Suite enables VISA and Mastercard card issuance — both virtual and physical — with 3DS2 authentication, spend controls, and complete lifecycle management. Institutions go from license to live card issuance in weeks, not years.
For the Europe-Africa corridor, card programs serve a critical need: diaspora customers require EUR cards for European spending while maintaining accounts linked to their CVE holdings. Corporate clients need multi-card programs with per-employee spend controls. Fintechs need rapid virtual card issuance for onboarding flows. The Cards Module addresses all these use cases through a single, unified management interface.
Tokenization support for Apple Pay and Google Pay means issued cards work immediately in digital wallets — no physical card required. Combined with EMV chip card personalization for physical issuance, the module supports the full spectrum from instant virtual cards for digital-first customers to premium physical cards with custom designs for corporate programs.
Common pitfalls: Card programs fail most often not because of technology, but because of program design. BIN sponsor relationships lock institutions into specific card networks with limited flexibility. Fee structures that look profitable on paper can erode when interchange regulations change. And without proper spend controls and 3DS2 configuration, fraud losses can consume the entire interchange margin within months. We recommend starting with virtual cards, validating the economics at small scale, and only then investing in physical card personalization infrastructure.
Complete Card Issuing & Management
VISA & Mastercard Issuing
Issue VISA and Mastercard branded cards through pre-established BIN sponsor relationships. Full BIN range management, card program configuration, and scheme compliance handled by the platform.
Virtual Card Issuing
Instant virtual card issuance with 16-digit PAN, CVV, and expiry generated in real time. Virtual cards are ready for online and contactless payments immediately, enabling zero-friction onboarding for digital-first customer segments.
Physical Card Personalization
EMV chip card production with custom designs, embossing, and carrier printing. Integrated with card manufacturer workflows for ordering, production tracking, and delivery management to any destination.
3DS2 Authentication
Full 3D Secure 2.0 with frictionless and challenge flows. Ensures PSD2 SCA compliance for card-not-present transactions while maximizing approval rates through intelligent risk-based authentication that only challenges when necessary.
Spend Limits & Controls
Granular spend limits by merchant category (MCC), geographic region, time of day, single transaction amount, and daily/monthly totals. Cardholders receive live transaction alerts and can adjust controls via mobile app or web portal.
Instant Freeze & Unfreeze
Cardholders can instantly freeze a lost or compromised card through the app, API, or customer service. Freeze takes effect in under 1 second, blocking all authorizations. Unfreeze is equally fast when the card is recovered.
Digital Wallet Tokenization
Native tokenization support for Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and other digital wallets. Card provisioning to wallets runs through push provisioning APIs, enabling instant wallet activation after card issuance.
POS Terminal Integration
Full POS acquiring and issuing support with EMV contact and contactless transaction processing. Supports in-store, online, and in-app payment scenarios with unified authorization and settlement workflows.
ATM, Co-Branded & Reward Programs
Configure ATM withdrawal limits, cross-border ATM access, and surcharge management per card program. Live ATM transaction monitoring with geographic restriction capabilities prevents unauthorized cash access. Launch co-branded cards with corporate partners, featuring custom designs, reward programs, and revenue-sharing models — the platform handles split settlement between issuer and co-brand partner.
PIN & Card Lifecycle Management
Complete PIN lifecycle including initial PIN generation, PIN change, PIN unblock, and remote PIN set through secure IVR or app-based interfaces. Card replacement preserves the same PAN with new CVV and expiry, or full PAN replacement for compromised cards. Cancellation with pending transaction handling ensures clean account closure without orphaned authorizations. All PIN operations comply with PCI DSS requirements.
Card Programs That Drive Revenue
Revenue from interchange fees. Every card transaction generates interchange revenue for the issuing institution. With typical EU interchange rates of 0.2-0.3% on debit and 0.3-0.4% on credit, a card program with 10,000 active cards generating EUR 500/month each produces significant recurring revenue. That's the economics. The rest is execution.
Faster time-to-market. Pre-established BIN sponsor and processor integrations reduce card program launch from 12-18 months to 8-12 weeks. Institutions can respond to market opportunities and competitive threats without the lengthy setup that traditional card issuing demands.
Reduced fraud losses. 3DS2 authentication, live spend controls, and instant freeze capabilities reduce card fraud losses by up to 70%. The combination of EMV for card-present and 3DS2 for card-not-present transactions provides full fraud protection across all channels. Customers with active cards also exhibit 3x higher retention rates than account-only customers — cards create daily engagement touchpoints that strengthen the institution-customer relationship and reduce churn.
The platform maintains PCI DSS Level 1 compliance, absorbing the cost and complexity of certification. Institutions issue cards without needing their own PCI audit, reducing compliance costs by EUR 50,000-100,000 annually and eliminating the 6-12 month certification timeline. Launch with 1,000 cards and grow to 500,000+ without infrastructure changes — the same API endpoints, 3DS infrastructure, and settlement workflows handle growth whether the institution is a startup EMI or an established bank.
Card Processing Technical Specifications
PCI DSS Level 1 Certified
The platform operates under PCI DSS Level 1 certification, the highest level of payment card security compliance. All card data is tokenized at the point of entry, ensuring sensitive cardholder data never resides in merchant or institution systems, dramatically reducing PCI audit scope.
EMV Chip & Contactless
Full EMV contact chip and NFC contactless transaction support for physical cards. EMV parameter management, key injection, and terminal interaction are handled through integration with certified card manufacturers and personalization bureaus.
3DS2 Full Implementation
Complete 3D Secure 2.0 implementation as both issuer and merchant 3DS server. Supports frictionless, challenge, and decoupled authentication flows with risk-based decisioning that optimizes approval rates while maintaining PSD2 SCA compliance.
Tokenization API
Full card tokenization API supporting network tokenization for Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. Push provisioning and in-app provisioning APIs enable instant digital wallet onboarding. Token lifecycle management includes suspension, resumption, and deletion.
Instant Authorization
Sub-500ms authorization response times for card-present and card-not-present transactions. The authorization engine evaluates balance, limits, MCC restrictions, geographic blocks, and velocity checks before approving or declining within the scheme-mandated timeout window.
Card Programs in Action
EMI Launches Virtual-First Card Product
A Cabo Verde fintech startup obtained its EMI license and needed to offer cards quickly to attract customers. Traditional card issuing timelines of 12+ months would have meant missing the market window entirely.
With Paymart Suite Cards Module, the fintech launched virtual VISA cards within 8 weeks. Customers received instantly usable cards upon KYC completion. Within 6 months, 25,000 virtual cards were issued, with 72% of cardholders adding them to Apple Pay or Google Pay. Physical cards followed for premium tiers, completing the product offering.
EUR Cards for Cabo Verdean Diaspora
Cabo Verdean expats in Europe maintain CVE accounts for family support and savings, but needed EUR-denominated cards for daily European spending. Existing solutions required them to maintain separate bank accounts in Europe.
A Cabo Verde institution used Paymart Suite to issue EUR-denominated Mastercard cards linked to customer accounts. Diaspora customers now have one banking relationship that provides both CVE accounts for remittances and EUR cards for daily European spending. Card interchange revenue contributes EUR 2.50 per active card per month, creating a new revenue stream from a previously underserved segment.